According to NERW WRED is outta here,soon to be replaced with the WEEI Multicast.Great for the sports geeks not good for the music people.Also a frequency swap for WLOB & WJJB.96.3 has a little bit better signal in Portland.Neither 96.3 or 95.5 would have a good enough STEREO signal in Portland to be competitive musically.Is it safe to assume they will be keeping their current formats?It would be nice to have WRED stay alive even on an inferior signal.
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Changes @ Atlantic Coast WRED/WJJB/WLOB
- Thread starter Andy Taylor
- Start date
when I read this I was SHOCKED! C'mon, I just started a post about how WRED is a great station and musically it's what the ppl of Portland like, at least the young ppl. Ugh, i would be very upset if that got changed, WRED, we already have plenty of Sports radio networks penetrating Portland, keep some nice top40 music (rythmic) in Portland please!!!!!!
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???I was pretty surprised to see that as well. From the NERW piece, it seems like WJJB will end up on 1440 and 96.3, WLOB on 1310 and 96.3, and the WEEI affiliate on 95.9.
The move seems a bit screwy. Given the track record of WEEI's stations in Boston, Providence, Springfield, and Worcester; the affiliate will probably blow WJJB out of the water. It would be a shame to lose WRED as well; though the latest book wasn't too hot to Red Hot 95.9, they usually rank much better than WLOB.
In terms of signals for the FMs, 95.5 is definitely covers the fewest people; while the upgraded 96.3 covers a massive land area, it's the 95.9 stick that probably hits the most people. With 96.3's upgrade throwing a decent signal over the city of Portland (as Andy said, for spoken-word), perhaps that's really where the WEEI format really belongs. To me, the best fit would be leaving things where they are, other than demoting WLOB to 1310 and using the big 96.3 for WEEI. Though the signal to the south isn't the best south of Scarborough, 96.3 provides a strong signal to the colleges full of Boston expatriots in Waterville, Lewiston, and Brunswick - sure, college students don't have diaries, but that's got to be a sellable audience with the WEEI brand.
That being said, that move would really only work if WEEI had no plans for a Portsmouth-area affiliate. If this affilate is expected to cover greater Portland and most of York County, then 95.9 is the only choice. At least that's my $0.02.
The move seems a bit screwy. Given the track record of WEEI's stations in Boston, Providence, Springfield, and Worcester; the affiliate will probably blow WJJB out of the water. It would be a shame to lose WRED as well; though the latest book wasn't too hot to Red Hot 95.9, they usually rank much better than WLOB.
In terms of signals for the FMs, 95.5 is definitely covers the fewest people; while the upgraded 96.3 covers a massive land area, it's the 95.9 stick that probably hits the most people. With 96.3's upgrade throwing a decent signal over the city of Portland (as Andy said, for spoken-word), perhaps that's really where the WEEI format really belongs. To me, the best fit would be leaving things where they are, other than demoting WLOB to 1310 and using the big 96.3 for WEEI. Though the signal to the south isn't the best south of Scarborough, 96.3 provides a strong signal to the colleges full of Boston expatriots in Waterville, Lewiston, and Brunswick - sure, college students don't have diaries, but that's got to be a sellable audience with the WEEI brand.
That being said, that move would really only work if WEEI had no plans for a Portsmouth-area affiliate. If this affilate is expected to cover greater Portland and most of York County, then 95.9 is the only choice. At least that's my $0.02.
R
rapking
Guest
So true. I want to hear music on FM stereo sound .WBIMDJ said:
Since when has radio been about the music? It's always been and always will be about money. Money is drying up in music. I know it's just 12+, but WRED nosedived in the spring book while WJJB and WLOB maintained or went up. Like it or not, talk is the growing format. Ipods and the internet are slowly killing music driven radio. Those that prefer music or certain types of music can load up an Ipod or MP3 player to their hearts content.
According to a story on MaineToday.com, LOB is going strictly AM on 1310, the Big Jab sports content is moving to 96.3 FM along with maintaining its current 1440 AM position, and WEEI content will be on 95.9 and 95.5 FM. That gives WEEI a very broad reach from Augusta south to Portsmouth while also strengthing what is the strongest brand at ACR (by using the "big stick 96.3" for JAB).
Curious that ACR would put a format on its air that directly competes with its strongest content, but they've pretty much cornered the sports market in Portland.
According to a story on MaineToday.com, LOB is going strictly AM on 1310, the Big Jab sports content is moving to 96.3 FM along with maintaining its current 1440 AM position, and WEEI content will be on 95.9 and 95.5 FM. That gives WEEI a very broad reach from Augusta south to Portsmouth while also strengthing what is the strongest brand at ACR (by using the "big stick 96.3" for JAB).
Curious that ACR would put a format on its air that directly competes with its strongest content, but they've pretty much cornered the sports market in Portland.
I can't believe this all happens September 1st, 2008. Anyways I was checking out the websites for WJJB, WLOB and WRED and saw that redhot959.com doesn't work anymore, thebigjab.com says Stay tuned.... The Big Jab will return soon!, while wlobradio.com gives news on becoming 1310 only and streaming live soon. Does this mean the sites will be like this until September 1st. I guess we will have to wait and see.
WBIMDJ said:
Says who?
Of course, we've had a long-running and very successful FM (traditional-style) talk station in this area, which has been racking up top 5 ratings since the 1980's.
I just don't get the "talk radio doesn't belong on FM" thing. It seems to come from folks who have their own mythical "great music" station in their head, and are disappointed because that musical format or style isn't on the band...as if it would be on the air if only that bad old talk station hadn't taken a dial spot that could, mythically, host that "great music I like to listen to" station.
Meanwhile, all over the country, major operators are putting their news/talk stations on FM, and generally seeing a lot of success.
So wait ... ACR is going to simul 'EEI AND keep the Jab as sports too??? That's just goofy.
hurricanesgb said:
it is, and whats interesting is Jim Rome is on the Big Jab, and on Fox Sports Maine (which overlap significantly along the Kennebec River)...so with the new ownership of FSM, could we see some changes there?
also, not to pull totally off topic, but whatever happened to the 3rd leg of The Big Jab, the AM that was sold off to Bob Bittner?
Did anyone see this comment from Chris Rush(is this the former 'TOS guy)?
Hmm....JJ is on the move...watch for more to come....this was just a preview of coming events in the Portland Market....Trust the Dust!!!
Hmm....JJ is on the move...watch for more to come....this was just a preview of coming events in the Portland Market....Trust the Dust!!!
and they keep growing
http://imgsrv.weei.com/image/weei/UserFiles/WEEINorthNetworkPressRelease81908.pdf
WEEI to replace top 40 WWBX in Bangor, adult standards 910 WABI
and a couple other markets already mentioned (and a couple with no affilates)
http://imgsrv.weei.com/image/weei/UserFiles/WEEINorthNetworkPressRelease81908.pdf
WEEI to replace top 40 WWBX in Bangor, adult standards 910 WABI
and a couple other markets already mentioned (and a couple with no affilates)
well part of the change has happened, 96.3 is now the Big Jab, as is 95.5 and WRED is still hip hop, can't receive the AM's but I don't think those were going to change
95.9 and 95.5 flip to WEEI next Monday. The 96.3 flip today is supposed to accustom the Big Jab listeners to the fact that their FM signal is changing so there's no panicked calls when 95.5 switches like there've been for old LOB listeners. Listened for about 15 minutes this morning since I can actually tune in 96.3 in the house and heard two calls asking where Ted and Ray were (out of maybe 7 calls total).Mainedude2007 said:
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